Sri Lanka's president, Maithripala Sirisena pledged this month to take over the running of the country's economy, through the National Economic council which was set up three months earlier.
Speaking to an election rally in Kegalle, Mr sirisena was quoted by Economy Next as saying he would be "taking over the responsibility of strengthening the economy and called upon domestic investors rally around to build the economy of the 'motherland'."
Responding to his comments however, the UNP deputy minister for economic policy, Harsha De Silva said the president didn't mean exactly what he said.
"Spoke to Pres @MaithripalaS He insisted didn’t mean taking over responsibilities of PM @RW_UNP but only use NEC more re ‘national economy’," Mr De Silva tweeted.
Tensions between the unity government, which have been steadily rising over the past 3 years, have become acutely heightened over recent days as the island approaches local government elections where the two parties of government, SLFP and UNP are contesting separately.
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